Classical review: Viva Voce, Auckland Town Hall

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A mid-winter Messiah comes with a certain olde worlde appeal and on Sunday Viva Voce went to some lengths to make this a Messiah with a difference.

While Handel's oratorio presents an account of the life and death of Christ, Jacqueline Coats' light staging made things more specific. The singers were a rather demurely attired "urban pack" in an inner-city carpark, moving from a winter of disillusionment to a spring that enabled them to "celebrate their new lives with a renewed sense of purpose".

With soloists increased to eight, tenor James Benjamin Rodgers' first two numbers, sung from the aisle, were an effective call to action.

The most successful characterisations came through either a simple touch of staging or the personal charisma of the singers.

Elizabeth Mandeno increased the emotional engagement of How beautiful are the feet by addressing it to a downcast Stephen Diaz, while Andrew Grenon sang with conviction from his first recitative.

Over the years I have been deeply moved by many mezzos singing He was despised. Countertenor Stephen Diaz took the aria's fusion of sorrow and anger to a new level of intensity in a performance that would have garnered "Bravos" in the opera house.

Emma Roxburgh's radiant I know that my Redeemer liveth, with the modest prop of a bunch of daffodils, exuded just the right sense of rapture.

The Viva Voce choristers responded well to conductor John Rosser. Later in the evening, however, dramatic impact was severely lessened with singers locked to their scores.

The less said about an ill-advised attempt to dramatise All we like sheep have gone astray the better.

A small but spirited band, ably led by Dianna Cochrane, played well, with David Kelly doing wonders at his Roland synthesiser, shifting between harpsichord and organ.

Viva Voce's Messiah was rewarded with an enthusiastic standing ovation from an audience which had been asked to remain seated for the Hallelujah Chorus. Why not, suggested Rosser, in the programme, as "it's just one of 54 wonderful numbers".

What: Viva Voce
Where: Auckland Town Hall, Sunday